


A Smooth Sea Never Made A Skilled Sailor

by BrooklynSolas



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: A LOT of Angst, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, F/F, F/M, I have no idea who is ending up with who so stick around for the ride, Minor Landon Kirby/Hope Mikaelson, Multi, Not really any Posie, Penelope is in love with cheap wine, a little bit of Handon, it might not be fun but it'll certainly be something
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:47:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28813668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrooklynSolas/pseuds/BrooklynSolas
Summary: Hope wasn't really one to hold an opinion or to have an interesting life, to say the least until she meets a mischievous Penelope Park at a bar and then everything shifts. Now people wanted to hear what she wanted but will Hope be able to handle the pressure?Will Hope figure everything out before time runs out and she's left with nothing.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Hope Mikaelson/Penelope Park
Comments: 10
Kudos: 44





	1. The beginning of an end.

You were sitting in a bar far from Mystic Falls waiting for your date to show up, staring at the clock on the wall behind the bar counting each minute that passes and you were slowly losing hope that he would show up. He’s done this before, but it was your birthday and he bought you a fake ID just for this occasion, he was attractive and was one of the best quarterbacks in your college football team, but he was definitely no charmer and you knew he didn’t think of you as a keeper, but you sat there for god knows how long hoping that he would walk in kiss your forehead and apologise for being late.

You give up after sitting there for over an hour, grabbing your handbag, the bartender giving you a sympathetic look which makes it hurt so much more but you hear someone sit right next to you that makes you look over hoping it was the quarterback. Instead, you see a girl with a black mob and hazel green eyes looking right back at you. You turn away feeling your face redden, you just got excited that it was him hopefully you didn’t weird her out.

“I’m guessing you got stood up, huh?” the raven-haired girl questions,

You look back at the girl to answer, she seemed as if she were having a worse night than you as you can see her mascara was smudged and her face was flush, “yeah I did, what brings you here though,” you reply trying to smile.

“relationship problems so the usual,” the girl laughs, “I’m Park, Penelope Park,” she puts her hand out for you to shake,

“I’m Hope,” you shake her hand, and you can feel her hand shaking,

You just smile back instead while you watch her order a round of shots, downing the first one without wincing, “Share them with me?” she asks, and you can’t help but nod.

You find out you both go to the same college and is majoring in law whilst you’re majoring in humanities and she looked impressed when you told her, raising an eyebrow before downing another shot. Penelope was really pretty, not like anyone you have seen before she had a very charming personality listening intently to whatever you had to say. Then she finds out that it’s your birthday and she drunkenly gasps, exclaiming how she could get you a much better birthday gift than a fake ID.

It was around ten before both of you decide to leave the bar and catch a cab back to school, both of you had too much to drink and were acting like you have known each other for years. You notice she was wearing a red skirt, white shirt, and a very nice black blazer,

“I like your outfit, very chic,” you say randomly, following the girl onto campus and she just winks at you making your stomach flip,

“I’m adoring your turtleneck I’m stealing it.”

Both of you drunkenly decide to spend the night in your dorm room as Penelope’s was on the other side of campus and her heels were killing her feet, you couldn’t argue either as your roommate recently dropped out or got expelled but you weren’t bothered by it.

Penelope was definitely no heavyweight making you giggle watching the girl struggle to take off her heels and catch one of your pyjama shirts and shorts, who shortly passes out on your bed sitting upright which freaks you out. You sort of just poke her until she lays down and you take the other bed, okay maybe you weren’t a heavyweight either because you don’t even remember your head hitting the pillow.

When you wake up, your head is spinning and overall feeling like absolute shit until you hear the shower on and remember that the really pretty girl is in your goddamn dorm room and now, you’re having a hangover freak out. What the hell do you say to a girl, you literally just met over boy problems who is in your dorm room having a shower.

‘hey, what’s up we barely know each other but good morning,’

Yeah, no not going to happen. 

Instead, there’s a knock on a door and a very angry Elizabeth Saltzman marching into the room,

“Do you not pick up your phone Hope Mikaelson or can I only get into contact with you via messenger pigeon?”

You just groan and shove your face into the pillow, “Lizzie it’s literally like eight in the morning and I’m suffering from a major hangover,”

“I will not hold anything against you, if you let fire chicken stay the night,” she points to the bathroom door, “I’m not stupid Hope I can hear someone in the bathroom,”  
You look at her scrunching your face in displeasure before you shove you head back into the pillow,

“Hey Hope, sorry I didn’t —” Penelope walks out of the bathroom,

You turn around and sit up knowing Lizzie will probably get the wrong impression that you cheated on Landon or whatever, “Hope when the fuck were you gay?” 

“Uh, never?”

Lizzie looks between you and Penelope who was wearing your turtleneck as if you outed yourself but you’re not gay.

Penelope grins, “This is just a misunderstanding, she got stood up and I offered to buy her drinks to get over it,”

You nod with what Penelope says because well it was sort of true beside the offering drinks part, you were just way too nice to say no but you didn’t regret it. Penelope was very interesting from the way she spoke about things to how she dressed; she was as well a few months younger than you.

“Landon stood you up on your birthday?” Lizzie asks for verification,

You shrug, “Yeah but please don’t try to get your sister to set his bag on fire again,”

“That’s like the fifth time he’s done that to you, so I think that it wouldn’t be hard to get my sister to set him on fire,”

“A pyromaniac? She sounds hot,” Penelope chimes in,

You can’t help but hide your smile with your hand at her comment because the raven-haired girl wasn’t that wrong, but Lizzie doesn’t take it humorously as her eye twitches and she has the angry Lizzie look.

“Yeah, whatever the hell your name is, I think it’s time for you to leave,” Lizzie says pestering the grinning girl out of the dorm room,

“Call me!” is the last thing you hear Penelope say before Lizzie shuts the door in her face,

Lizzie sits down next to you, you finally notice she’s still wearing what she wore earlier in the day from yesterday and looked dead, “Was it really that necessary?” 

You weren’t impressed by Lizzie’s small antics because you did not get her number, have any idea where she lives beside the knowledge of her dorm on the other side of campus and she was long gone when you opened your door. Not only were you mad at Landon, but you were also now mad at Lizzie who could care less about the raven-haired girl.  
The blonde barely knew Penelope and she didn’t even know who Lizzie was referring to as well so she had no right to kick her out, but she was Lizzie, and you couldn’t really do anything about it. Lizzie doesn’t acknowledge anything wrong about what she just did and just starts chatting about what happened last night with Josie, who had a run-in with her ex once again and said some pretty mean things to the ex. Neither you nor Lizzie knew her ex due to Josie wanting some privacy in her love life, which was fair, due to the last time Lizzie found out about one of her relationships she got with them and you totally didn’t lock Lizzie out of their dorm overnight on purpose mid snowstorm. To be fair, her boy-toy’s room was a five-minute walk across campus so she wasn’t going to die or anything, you just couldn’t understand what goes through her head most of the time.

Lizzie forces you to get dressed and out the door to go back to hers to comfort Josie, who apparently has blanket burrito’d herself in her bed and it was worse that her go-to comfort food was peanut butter. So now Hope Mikaelson has to save the day and somehow make the younger girl feel better whilst Lizzie goes off and does whatever she wants.  
Walking into the twin's dorm room you underestimated how chaotic an eighteen-year-old girl could be, the brunette was angrily spooning at the poor jar of peanut butter and you can’t help but awkwardly smile at the situation you were shoved into.

You sit next to the girl who seems like she hasn’t noticed you, “Is that smooth or crunchy?” you ask pointing to the jar of peanut butter,

Josie’s face was bright red, and she has that sad pouty look every time she’s upset, “Smooth,”

With that answer you grab the spoon from her hand and eat the peanut butter from it, Josie smiles at you but you can’t hate but grimace because you absolutely hate peanut butter,  
“You’re dumb,” She sniffles attempting to snatch back the spoon,

You don’t give it back to her, feigning hurt you also snatch the jar watching Josie try to shimmy out of her blanket to get it, but she can’t, you laugh at her and she sticks her tongue out at you. You hold the girls face with your hands, the brunette narrowing her eyes at you knowing you were up to no good,

“We should watch Star Wars all day so we can both mope,”

Josie nods with a small smile accidentally letting out a stray tear go down her face which you swipe away with your thumb, “but no more peanut butter,”

You can’t help but admit how adorable it is to watch her try to cry to guilt-trip you, but you just squish her face and lean over to open her laptop, going to her Netflix account and searching up the movies. You know that you shouldn’t talk about what happened when she’s fragile, so you have figured that comforting her in different ways is a much better idea which involves a lot less crying. It was still very early in the morning and you wanted to lay down so you decided the spooning idea would be the easiest to watch the movies and Josie doesn’t argue against it because you can tell she’s already exhausted and you were as well.

Both of you only got halfway through the first movie before falling asleep, waking up a few hours later to the fourth movie rubbing your eyes and sitting up. Josie was still asleep, and her face was still red, you knew she was very sensitive but there was barely anything you could do but be there for her. It was around two in the afternoon and you should probably message Lizzie an update on the Josie situation but before you stand up, Josie curls an arm around your waist and pull you closer in a weak attempt,

“Please don’t leave,”

You sigh telling yourself you can update Lizzie later before laying back down eye to eye with the brunette, her eyes were open, and she was looking intently at you.

“You smell like peanut butter,” you say,

Something in the air changes as well something in Josie’s eyes because now she’s moving into you, you couldn’t breathe. Josie kisses you softly, but you pull back,

“You’re upset right now, you’re going to regret this,” you hold her face in your hands,

“I regret a lot of things,” Josie whispers moving back into the kiss but this time you don’t stop her,

Her lips were on yours and kissing you like you were like glass; you can feel her hands snake her way onto the skin of your waist making you shiver. You were kissing her back just as softly caressing her face whilst doing so until you subconsciously gently bite her bottom lip and pull and now, she’s kissing you with a lot more confidence, she licks your top lip asking and you let her. Josie was very overwhelming, all you could feel, smell and taste were Josie, and she is very addicting. You were now kissing her jaw down to her collar bones and you swear you hear her quietly moan your name and it just edges you on, your hands gently tugging at her hair and this was all so wrong, when she starts quietly moaning your name more you finally stop, pulling her in closer for you to hug kissing her cheek,

“We need to stop,” you whisper hugging her,

You feel her posture change and how her body begins to shake with each breath, she was beginning to hyperventilate and cry balling your shirt into fists.

“Please I need something to be mine,” she cries, “I don’t want to hurt anymore,”

It fucking breaks your heart, and you have no idea how to comfort her besides hug her tighter and tell her she will be okay, even if she were taller than you, she felt so small and fragile in your arms as if she would break if you were to let go. She cried for an hour until she fell asleep, still in your arms whilst you draw patterns on her back. Her grip on your shirt doesn’t loosen until she wakes up again whilst you were updating Lizzie on the situation although skipping some details, Josie sniffles so you put your phone down and brush her hair with your fingers,

“I hope you’re not using my shirt as a tissue Jo,”

She shakes her head while sniffling her face hidden, “You so are,” you accuse,

You move your hands to her sides tickling her and she squeals trying to wiggle out of your grip,

“Hope, noooo!” Josie stammers, “I didn’t use you as a tissue!”

You stop and she looks at you her face bright red and you can’t help but smile at the girl who pouts in response sniffling, you hold her face in your hands again,

“You know we should talk about what happened beforehand,” Josie tries to look away, but you keep her still, “I know you are upset and if it’s as bad as you showed, we need to talk,”

“Can we just forget about it?”

You sigh knowing that Josie won’t talk about it no matter how hard you could push her, so you just caress her cheek, “Whatever you say, sweetheart, I just care about you,”

Both of you just spend the next few hours catching up on the movies that both of you slept through, Josie somehow managing to sneak back her peanut butter whilst you were busy talking about how it would be so easy to kidnap a Jawa and Josie kept trying to shush you. Josie was a Starwars fan, to say the least, you’ve known the girls for a few years now and every sleepover Josie was in charge of you were forced to watch the movies in order every single time, starting from the beginning so you can basically quote word to word from the first movie.  
Neither of you mentions anything even when Lizzie walks in through the doors, three coffees in hand noticing what both of you were watching, giving both of you the drinks and then leaving again. To be fair Josie started her Starwars addiction at a real young age before you met the twins so Lizzie fell victim to the continuous movie nights that she could not escape. You were Lizzie’s replacement movie buddy although the blonde would happily watch anything that isn’t Starwars so that was rarely.

You feel your phone vibrate and see that Landon is calling,

“Landon is calling, I’ll be right back,” You whisper before picking up your phone and leaving the dorm room,

“Hey Hope, I’m sorry that I didn’t show up coach wanted to keep me overtime for the weight room,”

“It’s fine but I don’t think we’re going to work out even if we’re not dating,”

There’s silence on Landon's side of the phone which lasts for a few moments,

“Can we meet up for coffee and talk about this?”

Now you go quiet for a few moments, your lip between your teeth,

“Tomorrow at ten, if you’re late we’re done,”

You hang up before he can disagree and you slide your phone back into your back pocket, were you being too harsh, but you were so sick of all the back-and-forth arguments that came with the boy. You hear Josie’s door open and Josie who is wrapped up in a blanket walks out and automatically pulls you into a hug,

“I’ll set him on fire,”

You can’t help but laugh at how right Lizzie was.


	2. Relationships can burn out as fast as they are lit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In a span of a few weeks, things start to spiral and now Hope is looking at a brickwall.

You spend a few more hours with Josie before leaving to go back to your room around eight, it was starting to rain but it was only a few minutes across campus so you should be able to make it before the storm picks up. You fucking hated storms and just the thought of thunder makes you grind your teeth together, so you walk a little faster than normal. You get back to your room fairly easily right before the lightning hits so you decide catching up on your college work would be a good distraction from the outside world, you get through most of it until something tell you to look outside your window. Your eyes scanning the campus until you spot someone sitting on the rooftop of one of the dorm buildings, but you can’t get a good look, so you grab your coat before abandoning your schoolwork. You rush to the building and jog up the stairs until you reach the top, the wind was picking up and the rain felt like bullets hitting your skin.  
You make eye-contact with Penelope Park; she was drenched but somehow was able to light the cigarette between her teeth. Something in your stomach twists and you reach out to grab her arm,

“Penelope, what the fuck?”

She grins at you taking the cigarette from her lips, “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of a little rain,” she blows out the smoke through her nose,

“A little rain?” You flinch at the thunder, “Are you drunk or are you just insane?”

“Little bit of both,” she takes another puff, “it keeps things interesting,” she winks,

You see lightning in the distance and that’s enough for you to drag her back down from the roof, both of you dripping and her giggling all the way down the stairs and till you reach your dorm. This girl was clearly something else and you don’t know if you liked it or not, you give her one of your oversized sweaters and pyjama shorts sending her to go get changed in your bathroom with a towel whilst you get changed quickly next to your bed. She comes out a few minutes after you finish getting changed and just sprawls herself on your bed,

“You’re drinking water and then taking a nap,” You say rummaging through your fridge,

You throw her a water bottle which directly hits her in the middle of her back, “ouch,”

“Oh shush, I’m going to finish my homework whilst you deal with the consequences,”

You sit back at your desk and try to pick up where you left off, but your eyes kept wandering back to the raven-haired girl who was now hanging upside down from your bed, it was slightly amusing but you try to keep your focus on your book. You finish half an hour later, to see that Penelope had fallen asleep upside down and you’re starting to think that she could sleep anywhere. You pick the girls body up and put her properly on your bed, you’d hate to say this, but Penelope has been on your mind since the morning and finding the girl drunkenly messing around on a rooftop throughout a storm was definitely a coincidence. You message Lizzie asking how Josie was and she messages back quickly that she’s knocked out like a light and that you should’ve made her wash the dishes. She also sends a picture of the girl sleeping drooling on her pillow and you send back a picture of you raising an eyebrow, Lizzie sends you back a picture of her flicking you off.

You can’t help but smile and put your phone down, you weren’t tired, so you turn on your laptop to go through your Tumblr feed until you get bored which takes a few hours liking and reblogging once in a while and chatting with some others. You message your childhood best friend Maya who moved to England to finish her education so messaging her throughout the night was the only way to contact her, but she’s been busier than usual do due her going to medical school. You have only really had the twins and Landon since you started college and even then, they were all a year below you, so your first year of college was lonely besides when you got to go home and hang out with the twins.

“You’ve been typing for literal hours,” Penelope hums from your bed,

You raise your eyebrow at the girl who was happily cuddled up in your blanket, “better than a hangover,”

She finger guns you, “You got me there,” and you just roll your eyes closing your laptop,

You turn off your room light and sit down, next to Penelope, “You going to scoot over?”

“If you wanted to sleep with me, I would’ve expected at least a please,”

You choke on air, but Penelope moves over, the other bed was soaked due to you putting your wet clothes on it.

“I’ve known you for basically a day,” you lay down next to her, “What makes you think I'd be the one begging,”

“Because you have never been with a woman,”

Okay, blunt much.

She puts her thumb on her lip as if she were thinking, “But you are insanely hot so I’m quite surprised,”

You roll your eyes at the girl, “Could you even be blunter?”

Something in her eyes shines and now you know you just started something, “I really want to make out with you,”

“In your dreams,”

“In my dreams, you’re the one beg—” You put your hand over her mouth so she can't finish her sentence,

“Goodnight Pen,”

You roll over facing away from the girl trying to fall asleep, but you just couldn’t so you were stuck staring at a specific area on the wall trying to count sheep. It must’ve been an hour or so because you whisper Penelope’s name asking if she’s awake, but you get no response and you fall asleep a few minutes after.

In the morning Penelope is gone when you wake up and again, she doesn’t write down her number, so you have no way to contact her. You had an hour or so to get ready to meet up with Landon and each minute that passed makes you more anxious to meet up with him, and just the day before was just on repeat.  
You get to the café and he is already seated down and fidgeting with his fingers like a small child getting in trouble but when you sit down opposite to him, he looks up and awkwardly smiles and it just reminds you why you had been interested in him in the first place.

You open your mouth to speak but gets to you first, “Hope, I’m sorry that I’ve been AWOL lately and standing you up on your birthday,” he ruffles through his pockets for a moment grabbing a small jewellery box and opening it to show you a diamond necklace with your name and you can’t help but hide your mouth with your hand in shock, “I know I’ve been making so many excuses but I’ve been taking on so many jobs to get this for you and I didn’t think that our distance would affect us,”

“Hope Mikaelson, can you finally be my girlfriend?”

Your mind blanks and your mind wonders to Penelope for not any reason but you shake it off and nod, “Yes I will, Landon Kirby,”

You’re not gay. 

He smiles asking if he could be the one to put the necklace on you whilst you both waited for your coffees to go, he kisses you and you can’t help but let your lips linger on his.

A few weeks go past, and the twins don’t try to hide the dislike about you becoming official with Landon and you see Penelope a few more times only if it was going to storm or if it was storming, but mostly you were at Landon’s or class. You and Josie don’t ever mention what happened, but nothing changes between either of you.

Landon has been asking you to join him when he goes to frat parties, he’s been nagging you for literal weeks, but you have just been wanting to suffocate yourself in schoolwork. He finally gets you to come when he kisses you and pulls you in closer by your waist and you can’t say no when he does that sort of thing with you.

Walking into the party Landon is instantly carried away by some boys that you recognised from his football team and now you regret saying yes in the first place, the place was packed and way too loud for your liking. You could tell people were drunk already and you were pretty sure a jock was basically dry humping a cheerleader in the corner.

Gross. 

You get a cup of punch, watching Landon do keg stands in the middle of the room and everyone was hyping him up. After a while you just decide to drink more punch and complain about the party to the twins via text, Josie was at the library working on her law project and Lizzie was somewhere. This lasts for an hour or so of just texting until something catches your eye going up the stairs, a jock was carrying a girl up the stairs who was not sober. You message the girls about what you see, Lizzie tells you to follow him and Josie sends back a fire emoji which makes you smile. When you look back at the stairs the two of them were already gone and something in your stomach turns, so you hurry up the stairs as fast as you in 6-inch heels. He wasn’t in the upstairs hallway, so you start opening the bedroom doors, accidentally walking in on some awkward situations. It’s not until you reach the end of the hallway to the door on the left is when you find the jock above the unconscious girl, your adrenaline kicks in and your body goes in autopilot shoving the boy off the girl and socking him directly to the face. 

“What the fuck is your problem, bitch?” The boy was holding his nose which was gushing with blood,

“Get the fuck out,” you yell at him before he leaves the room, 

You lock the bedroom door and go to the girl's side and then it hits you, the girl you saved was Penelope Park who even after the argument was still unconscious. You shake her shoulder trying to wake her up, but she isn’t responsive and it’s starting to be obvious the poor girl was drugged. You pick up the girl bridal style and start making your way to your car fast, you’re a five-minute drive to the hospital before she starts convulsing and you drive faster. 

You can’t remember what happens at the hospital, all you remember is you panicking and holding the girl before the nurses took her away and one of the other nurses trying to calm you down whilst you were hyperventilating. Anything after that is a complete blur until the morning where you wake up to someone whispering your name and then the extreme neck pain, Penelope was laying down on the hospital bed with multiple different IV drips coming out of her arm and she looked exhausted. You immediately move to her side from the plastic hospital chair holding her hand, she dumbly smiles at you now obvious she was on medication. 

“You scared me,” You feel your eyes start to fill with tears, 

“You’re too pretty to cry,” Penelope hums,

You can’t help but laugh and wipe away your tears, she was still blunt as ever and you brush her hair away from her face. She tries to wink but just blinks making you laugh even more, 

“Can you sneak me a cheeseburger,” Penelope asks, “Pretty please?” she pouts, 

“I’ll get you a cheeseburger because you asked so nicely,” 

“Can I get a kiss, pretty please?” 

“Never gonna happen,” 

She pouts again but you just squeeze her hand and leave the room, you’re going to go back to your room to get changed and have a coffee before coming back with her cheeseburger as the hospital was a few minutes away from school. You find your phone on your car seat with ten missed calls from both Josie, Lizzie and just a text message from Landon, you send the twins a text saying you had to take the girl to the hospital and you just tell Landon that you went home early. 

It was five in the morning and yet you still could feel the adrenaline and that your hand was severely swollen, your hands were shaking the entire time you got there to your room and just when you were about to leave to go back to the hospital Landon calls. 

You try to explain to him briefly about why you had left due to a girl being drugged and almost assaulted and he pulls the ‘she was probably asking for it’ you tell him you’re done. He tries to backtrack, but you knew what he meant, and you were disgusted, once you say something like that there’s nothing that could make you come back to that person.  
You sit in the hospital carpark for a few minutes trying to compose yourself, everything was starting to become overwhelming, but you took in a deep breath and got out of your car McDonald's in hand. You put it in your handbag so you could sneak it in, the elevator up to Penelope’s room was intense and you watch an older woman walk into the elevator when you walk out. She looked like an older version of Penelope and you figured it was probably her mother, but she looked pissed off. 

You see that Penelope looked pissed off as well but when she sees you, she smiles and then she makes a face like she smells something and locks eyes with your handbag, her smile becoming bigger. 

You give her the bag and sit on the bed watching as she looks through the bag happily, 

“You’re literally my saviour,” she hums with a mouthful of fries, 

“And you’re literally gross,” 

She doesn’t acknowledge what you say as she’s too busy eating, so you try to take one of her fries, but she slaps your hand away. You can’t help but smile, you have always seen her mysterious and flirtatious but there she was Penelope Park in the flesh, eating fries like her life depended on it. 

It takes her a while to finish but when she does, she has this very happy look on her face, 

“You know we can talk about happened right?” Penelope says, “I wasn’t unconscious until you got me to your car, I just couldn’t move my body,” 

You nod listening, “I heard you smash that kid's nose,” she picks up your swollen hand and looks at it, “I thought I had no chance and then you come in with your six-inch heels to save the day,” 

“Why were you even at a frat party?” You ask, 

She moves you closer to her as if she were telling her a secret, “I go where the storm takes me,” and she caresses your fist, “You should get that checked out while you’re here,” 

“I don’t really want to leave,” 

“I’m being signed out in the next hour and I just need to have a check-up before I’m allowed to leave, so I’ll be here when you get back,” 

You listen to her, but she’s gone when you get back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aHHH I know the pacing in this chapter is horrendous just stay with me for the next I promise you. :)


	3. The Selfless and the Selfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope spends time with Penelope.

You walk back down to go back to your car to get home disappointed, the doctor only bandaging your hand and telling you to ice it to help with the swelling. Penelope was sitting on the hood of your trunk fidgeting with her hospital band, you can’t help but hug the girl for the first time. She hugs you back and you swear she sniffs you, 

“Did you just sniff me?” 

“Would that be such a crime?” 

Yep, she definitely sniffed you but whatever, both of you get in your car and she plays around with the radio whilst you try not to look at her too much. She puts on Rihanna and starts singing along to her until you both get back to your dorm, she goes straight to have a shower and you lay down on your bed to call Josie about what happened with Landon. Both the twins were happy, to say the least, and we're already offering to hook you up with some random guys from their classes, you tell them you’ll message later because you’re exhausted and want to sleep. Penelope lays down next to you, her hair still damp and cold so you run your fingers through her thick hair. 

“That feels nice,” she says rolling over to look at you, her hand tucked under her head, 

You keep stroking her hair as she studies your face, “what’re looking at?” you ask, 

“you,” 

You look away from her, but you hear her slightly laugh, “for someone who has a boyfriend, you’re easily flustered by me,” 

“I broke up with him this morning, he’s not what I thought he was,” you tell her, 

“Who do you think I am?” 

You realise you barely know anything about this girl although you’ve known her for a few months now and you still don’t have her number, but she just somehow shows up in the right times. You know that her favourite drink is cheap wine, she’s in love with corgi’s and is slightly obsessed with the colour purple. She doesn’t own a car because she likes catching public transport and she hates her college major, but her family pressured her into it. 

She lets you think for a minute or two thinking about how to respond, she certainly wasn’t someone you have met before, “You’re Penelope,” and she smiles like you were right before she closes her eyes. 

You find out a few days later that the only reason why her mother showed up to the hospital was to stop her daughter from filing a police report as it would stain the Park name, and how she was the reason her father was sick. She shows you more of her throughout the next few days than she has shown you since you met her, she tells you how she wants to travel around the world but if she had to stay in one place she would live in Belgium and become an artist. You find out she absolutely hates the taste of coffee but worked as a barista for a year or two and could make a really good latte, she also was a really good cook. 

Penelope doesn’t leave you besides when either of you had classes which were basically on the same schedule so you would usually come back to yours a few minutes before she did. She also brings some clothes from her dorm, but she mostly used yours which you didn’t mind. Landon nonstops calling or texting you to rethink about the breakup but you block his number and then he shows up to your dorm when Penelope was there, and you were doing your groceries. Penelope tells you that he thought he was just at the wrong room and looked miserable and that you could do way better than that and wiggles her eyebrows at you. 

A month or so after Penelope practically moving in, she insists that she takes you out to her secret spot because you barely leave your room unless it was classes and you can’t deny the fact, so yeah you let her take you across campus at one in the morning. The raven-haired girl leads you to the school pool, which is locked tight when it wasn’t swimming season, she takes your hand and leads you to a small gap in the fence and next to a few wooden boxes. She goes first and quietly slides open the window above and crawls in and it takes you a moment before following her in, you thought she was insane. 

The window both of you enter connects to the boy's locker room which wasn’t locked, and she holds your hand again as you both sneak into the pool room, the only light coming from the pool lights which highlighted the side of Penelope’s face a shade of blue. She was absolutely gorgeous.   
You don’t expect Penelope to straight-up strip, her back to you and you look away until you hear her splash into the pool. 

“Are you going to join me or?” Penelope was resting her arms on the side of the pool, 

“You have already involved me in your illegal activity, so I guess I have to,” 

You strip into your underwear instantly feeling shy about your body, but you march through it and sit with your legs in the pool. You watch Penelope swim, you catch her eye and now she’s swimming to you a grin on her face, you know what she’s going to do but you can’t stop her as she grabs your legs and pulls you into the pool laughing. 

You adored her laugh because it was pure and happy, making you just watch it awe as her head slightly tips back as she laughs, you splash her and she splashes you back, you both are laughing, 

“Hope Mikaelson actually having fun?” She laughs, “sounds impossible,” 

“O shut up, or I’ll have to go Jaws on you,” 

You go underwater and swim into her and she dunks her head under as well winking at you before both of you reach up for air, 

“I actually haven’t watched Jaws,” Penelope breathes out, “I do not have the balls to watch any horror movie that involves water,” she was now floating on her back, 

“Don’t tell me you’re like secretly into sappy rom-coms,” 

“O God no, I’m just not fond of movies,” 

You kind of expected that as she could never sit down with you and watch a movie without falling asleep or she would get fidgety, 

“Books are so much better,” she goes on, “In movies, you’re given an opinion that you follow throughout, and all the feelings are rushed, and it just gets too much but with books, you fall in love with characters and their flaws until you kind of wish you were them and so very far away from reality,” 

You floated along listening to her ramble about philosophy and normally things like this would bore you but, the way Penelope thinks and how she sees the world was so unique. Both of you stay in the water for a while enjoying each other’s company, after a while, you both sit on the side of the pool just looking at the water, 

“Who do you think you are Hope?” she asks but you don’t know how to answer besides shrug, 

“You do know that this world needs the selfless and the selfish to keep spinning,” you can almost feel her breath, “I so happen to be the latter,” 

You feel your heart speed up and it felt harder to swallow as she moves closer to you and she could tell that you were silently freaking out, it was a last-second decision just when she was about to close the distance that you push her into the pool. 

“Hope, what the fuck?” Penelope asks surprised, 

“You looked like you needed to cool off,” 

Penelope pulls you back into the pool, you can’t help but laugh and start a splashing fight and both of you were laughing until both of you hear something unlock in another room. You look at each other like a deer in headlights before getting out and grabbing your clothes and quietly rushing into the boy's locker room while trying to also put on your skirt. When both of you get to the locker room and look back to see if anyone was coming, a flashlight is shunning directly at you, 

“Come out now!” an older man's voice yells from the pool area,

“Hope, get up here now,” Penelope hisses behind you as she was already halfway up the window, 

It doesn’t take her to ask twice for you to climb up the window and start running away, you don’t stop running until you’re halfway back to your dorm room and both of you burst into giggles. 

“I think I dropped my shirt,” Penelope giggles, 

“Oh, I just thought you liked walking around half-naked,” 

She playfully pushes you, “when I say my shirt, it was yours, I stole it,” 

you raise your eyebrow at her, “It was that green shirt you always wear,” 

You pinch the bridge of your nose, “You’re finding it tomorrow.” 

The morning after she disappears, she hasn’t done that in a while, but you were slightly disappointed to wake up alone or not to the smell of coffee. Maybe she was searching for your shirt which you could only hope due to it being your favourite shirt, but you find yourself waiting for a few days, waking up each morning hoping she was in the shower or sadly being greeted to an empty room after classes. You walk into the twins after your last class for the day two weeks after Penelope has disappeared in thin air, 

“You look like death,” Lizzie says, and Josie smacks her arm, 

“I feel like it too,” 

You were walking next to the fountain, listening to Lizzie go on about how she has a date with a guy from the lacrosse team. Both you and Josie snicker when she mentions lacrosse because they have never won a game, the blonde doesn’t acknowledge it though as she was intently focused on herself. 

“Hey Hope, would you want to have a movie night tonight?” Josie whispers to you, “I’d let you pick the movie,” 

You smile at the taller girl who was wearing space buns and a yellow summer dress, “I’m up for it Jo,” 

You go back to the twin's dorm room so you could help Lizzie get ready for her date and spend time with both girls, Josie was trying to find an extra pillow to bring while you helped Lizzie pick out a lipstick. Usually, Lizzie was unbothered by boys, but she was seriously stressing out about a shade of blush that you swore that you brought Josie for Christmas, it takes her literally two hours of getting ready until she was confident enough to walk out the door. Both of you wish her luck on her adventure of finding love. 

It was around seven that both of you get to your dorm room, as you always had the good snacks but you haven’t gotten around to eat them lately so it wouldn’t be a crime to let the Saltzman twin steal your Hershey kisses. She throws all her pillows and blankets on your bed preparing to build the pillow fort while you were given the job to make popcorn, 

“We should make peanut butter cookies,” Josie exclaims excitedly from the bed, 

“When you say we I hope you’re referring to you,” you were waiting for the pan to heat up, “I nearly lit your bed on fire last time and Lizzie lost her eyelashes,” 

Both of you laugh at the memory, you were only 16 when it happened and the younger girls kind of watched you in amazement when you attempted to bake cookies on a stovetop. You were taken in by their family after yours had passed away, you knew Alaric regretted it due to you having an early rebellious boy craze, but Josie settled you down. 

Josie gets up from your bed and makes her way to where you were, “do you have flour?” 

It takes almost two hours of both of you trying to figure out how to bake because the first batch was horrible, you end up covered in flour with an egg cracked over your head while Josie just innocently pretends, she was not the perpetrator. The second batch of cookies comes out amazing thanks for your idea to use google although Josie said it would ruin the experience, you have a shower before laying down with the girl who decides that the comfiest position to watch Finding Nemo would be on top of you. You were fine with it; she’s always been comfortable with you to do this stuff as well she always smells nice.

You were halfway through Wall-E when Josie gets off you to get a glass of water before sitting down next to you again, you watch her smile at a scene in the movie. It was around two before both of you decide to call it a night, you being the big spoon although she was a good few inches taller than you.

After a while, Josie turns around her legs entwined with yours, her head on your chest and her hands under your shirt obvious that she was cold. You brush your fingers through her hair while your other arm is wrapped around her waist, you stop after a few minutes and she pokes her head up.

“Goodnight Sweetheart,” you hum,

She murmurs something before nestling her head back and you smile at it, she was a grumpy sleepy person, so you just start stroke her hair again until you also fall asleep which you are unable to do but stare at the wall. Holding the sleeping girl close to you the entire time, thinking back a few months ago when Josie was upset, and you kissed her. You weren’t gay, but something about kissing Josie was new and exciting. It wasn’t like kissing Landon, Josie was gentle, soft and everything that Landon wasn’t. Landon who would just shove his tongue down your throat and held you like some sort of trophy within his rough and overly large hands, Josie held you like glass.

You fall asleep eventually with Josie’s lips on yours on your mind, you weren’t gay though, it was just different.

Waking up to Josie still in your arms was different due to her being an early bird, so her still being asleep after nine was something. The taller girl was still nestled in your shirt under the blanket, you haven’t had her like this in literal months as Penelope had taken up most of your time and she was like an angry hot water bottle when she was asleep. The raven-haired girl would make you sweat due to how much heat she would radiate she as well couldn’t stop moving in her sleep, she once hit you in the face, so you shoved your throw pillow in her face and that wasn’t a good morning for either of you. For a quick second, you thought of trying to find the missing girl, but you knew she was one of those girls who wanted to stay hidden.

You start playing with the taller girls hair to stop thinking about Penelope until Josie opens her eyes tiredly and looks up at you.

“Good morning, Beautiful,” you squeeze her waist,

“Are we married or something?” Josie whispers still very tired,

“Josette Mikaelson sounds like music to my ears,” you tease making the girl roll her eyes, “Oh c’mon Jo, you have to admit it has a very nice ring to it,”

You were going to continue about how nice-sounding it was before she pulls your head closer to hers in a kiss, it wasn’t like last time, it was sweet and chaste just enough for you to go lightheaded that it makes you forget what you were going to say.

“I know you’re not attracted to girls, but it was the only way I knew how to shut you up,” Josie explains who seemed flustered,

You look at her not thinking, “can you do that again?”

Josie's face goes a bright red but she nods before moving to kiss you again, it was nothing sexual just affection. You smile against her lips your hands caressing her cheek and you just kiss each other for god knows how long, just enjoying it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I think this chapter is better than usual lmao.


	4. Thanksgiving and cheap wine.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Saltzman twins leave for New Orleans for Thanksgiving and Hope doesn't expect to see Penelope stuck at campus aswell.

These sorts of moments continue until thanksgiving break when the twins were being sent back to New Orleans to be force-fed turkey, while you got to stay on campus and catch up on schoolwork. You and Josie completely agreed that the kisses were just platonic and that you weren’t gay, you just haven’t gotten affection like that in ages, so you weren’t complaining. It was a mutual agreement.

You don’t see Penelope until the day of Thanksgiving, she was seated on the edge of the school fountain and a cigarette between her lips. She had sunglasses on with a long dark red coat,

“Hey Pen, long time no see,” you sit down next to her and lean your hands on the fountain,

She turns to look at you and blows smoke out, “miss me yet?”

She has not changed a bit, you think. “You would love that, wouldn’t you?”

Penelope smiles before taking another drag letting the silence weigh between you, it was never awkward between you two,

“Control thy passions lest they take vengeance on thee,” Penelope quotes before throwing her cigarette in the fountain and getting up, “Shall we?”

The campus was quite empty, the only noise coming from either you or Penelope. She asks you why you weren’t celebrating thanksgiving and you tell her why she looked interested nodding along and asking questions about your mum and dad. You shoot the same question back after a while and she explains why she went awol as her father had passed away and her mum didn’t even want to look at her, so she was stuck wandering around like a lost puppy. Penelope tries to keep her answer light-hearted, but it was obvious it was affecting her, so you offer her to spend the night at yours to have a small thanksgiving celebration,

“You don’t even know how to cook,” Penelope remarks at the offer,

You raise your eyebrow at the girl, “it’s called google,”

The taller girl chuckles, “yeah, I’ll be making dinner if you want something edible,” 

You nudge her with your shoulder, and she nudges back, “so is that a yes?” you ask,

It was a yes.

She makes you sit down while she cooks spaghetti which was the only ingredients in your room, she was humming an oddly familiar song, but you just couldn’t put your finger on it while you were messaging Maya. Your friend was the only one who knew practically everything when it came to Penelope, they were both very similar, but you never mention the glances and the lingering touches. You weren’t gay.  
Maya was telling you about how she might come back to New Orleans for Christmas because she knew that you have always spent Christmas alone, you tease back that she could only come if her brother Ethan were to come. Ethan was definitely attractive, but he was around Josie’s age and still looked like a baby but maybe because you’ve known them since he was a bratty ten-year-old as well your best friends younger brother. Maya sends you a picture of her flicking you off making you smile and send one back,

“If you’re not busy messaging your many lovers, could you please take out two plates?” Penelope asks,

You shut off your laptop and go help her, taking out the packet of paper plates from a cabinet next to the fridge, Penelope raises an eyebrow at the paper plates,

“My friend stole them,” you accuse which wasn’t a lie,

“who in the right mind would want to steal tableware?”

“We are college students, Pen,”

Penelope just finger guns you before finishing setting up dinner on the small poor excuse of a dining table, you couldn’t afford nice things due to you only being in college was for a scholarship that your parents had created for you before they had passed. You both sit down for a moment before her eyes go wide and she reaches for her handbag and pulls out a bottle of cheap wine,

“Viola,” she smiles trying to find two glasses that she pours it into,

“What else do you have hiding in there?” You joke,

She takes a sip of the wine with a wink, “wouldn’t you like to know,”

Nothing was impossible for the younger girl, so her randomly pulling out a bottle of wine wasn’t as shocking if it were someone else. Both of you eat and talk among each other, mostly you talk about how you want a relationship, but the school lacked attractive people. Penelope wiggles her eyebrows and suggests herself, but you instantly remark that your taste did not involve a certain raven-haired girl who was already down three glasses of wine and that you weren’t interested in girls. Dinner goes fine, Penelope getting changed into your pyjamas and cuddling up to you afterwards. You had turned your laptop back on trying to find something on Netflix while dealing with a touchy lightweight, her face way too close to your neck for your liking. You settle on a random movie you didn’t even read before laying down in bed,

“I didn’t know you would be into The Notebook,” Penelope whispers in your ear,

You try to laugh, “I’m just trying to bore you to death,”

The laptop rested on your lap while you were laying on your back slightly elevated by your pillow, Penelope’s head rests on your chest and her left arm laid lazily over your stomach. Penelope was a softy for cuddling, who was happily snuggled up against you for all the three movies you had watched. She was also repeating lines that she found funny quietly, but you hear it every time making you smile, you adored finding out small things about the girl whose life was practically shrouded by mystery. Moving onto the fourth movie, Penelope practically had to beg for you to turn on Finding Nemo dramatically begging you.  
You let her watch it while you played with her hair, who after Nemo getting fishnapped begins to get restless and sits on top you,

“You know what would be so much more fun to do right now?” Penelope asks, drumming her fingers on your collarbones, “We should totally make out right now,” she answers her question grinning,

You can’t help but roll your eyes at the girl who meant what she said, “even if I were to agree to that Pen, which by the way is a horrible thought, I bet you’re one of those people who use too much tongue,”

Penelope looks outright offended by your claim, “I’d probably be the best kisser you have ever met,”

“Do you want to bet on that?”

She proudly nods before moving in to kiss you, but you cover her mouth with your hand, her eyebrows knitting together, “what if I’m a horrible kisser?” you tease, “if we kiss, I hope you regret it for the rest of your life,  
”  
She moves away from your hand, “regret for things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is incon—”

You were now the one pulling her in for a kiss to shut her up with her nerdy philosophical quotes, your hands on her waist and her hands in your hair. Penelope somehow tasted like lime, but you weren’t against it, just pulling her in closer to get a better taste of her. She bites your bottom lip before sucking, your body was begging for air so you move away to catch your breath and right before she can make a snarky remark, you’re bruising her lips again. She moves to your neck, kissing and lightly biting until she finds a spot right below your jaw that makes you take in a deep breath, you know she’s leaving hickies, but you can’t stop her because your body was working against your mind.

She moves back up to look at you obvious adoration in her eyes, “Hope Mikaelson you are the worst kisser ever,”

You don’t realise how out of breath you were until then trying to figure out what to say against that, “we can never do that again,” you say but Penelope dramatically pouts and somehow you go back on your word and spend the rest of the night kissing the shorter girl. You blame it all on the stupid cheap wine that she pulled out of her bag, you weren’t gay, it was just the alcohol.

Waking up next to Penelope was something, she was blanket hog who could not sleep still for the life of her. She had both arms splayed above her head with one leg over the other in the most amusing pose, it looked like she was trying to be a ballerina and you smile at the thought of Penelope Park in a tutu: Specifically, a pink poufy tutu. You decide that you’ll try to make both of you coffee for this morning, although it could never be as good as Penelope’s you try your best, your hand accidentally slips holding the kettle and the boiling water spills on your hands. You curse at yourself, running cold water over your hands to ease the pain. You feel Penelope next to you and you watch her hand move onto your hands caressing them under the cold water,

“Maybe you should leave the coffee making to me,” she whispers into your ear,

You feel like you can’t breathe so you just nod hyperaware how close both of you were, you finally get yourself to look at the girl who was still looking at your reddened hands. She moves away to grab a pack of frozen peas knowing that’ll she will make you hold them, but you don’t instead you move the peas onto the kitchen counter and then you kiss her. You don’t kiss her like you did the night before, you kiss her like she was going to disappear at any second. Desperate, intense but soft.

“Hope, your hands,” Penelope breaks you apart,

You kiss her again, “I can barely feel it,”

She kisses you this time, her back leaning on the kitchen counter while your hands rested on her waist. You move your head down to her neck trying to copy what she did last night; you kiss her jaw below her earlobe, and you move down from there leaving open-mouthed kisses all over her neck. You leave a few hickies right above her collarbones, moving back up to her lips Penelope enjoying it when she moans when you swipe your tongue at her bottom lip. She stops to look at you, you look at her,

“In different circumstances, I would happily let this continue,” Penelope swipes her thumb along your bottom lip, “but due to this clearly being overwhelming for you, we need to stop,”

You can’t bring yourself to say anything besides whispering ‘I’m sorry’ before resting your head in the crook of her neck while she stroked your hair, you felt like a small child being comforted and what you say next doesn’t help,

“Are you going to stay, Pen?”

Penelope stays afterwards and everything goes back the same as it had before, she had left, her making dinner while you bought groceries for her to do so and nothing changes. A week after, you confess you had kissed your best friend prior and you watch her jaw tense, but you assure her that it didn’t mean anything, she tells you some things about how she figured out she was interested in girls because of her ex. She tells you about how her ex was in love with her best friend but would always deny it because she had guilt for staying with Penelope for so long, so she had to be the one to break things off which was why they met at the bar that one night. Penelope regrets not telling her the truth of why she wanted to end it, but her ex wouldn’t move on if she didn’t become the embodiment of Satan in her eyes, you caress her hand telling her that her ex couldn’t say anything worse than her best friend Josie would say about hers.

“You should definitely meet Josie,” you say, “you guys would hit it off,”

Penelope raises an eyebrow at you, “are you saying that because we’re both attracted to women?”

“Uh no,”

“You definitely are, Mikaelson,”

After a week Penelope leans in and kisses you again, letting her lips linger against yours,

“You should know though, that I am far more interested in someone with the prettiest blue eyes,”

Something in your chest warms up the heat moving to your cheeks, “You’re going to give me diseases,” you accuse flustered,

“Honey, you are my second kiss so there’s absolutely nothing to worry about,”  
You finger gun her and she falls back on your bed dramatically, should you feel honoured that you were her second kiss or slightly concerned that she was nineteen and has only ever kissed one person before her, but it was obvious that she was deathly loyal to her ex.

“I should be the one worried, seems like you’re the one that has all the diseases,” Penelope prompts up onto her elbows and winks at you, “that ex-boyfriend of yours seemed like a real charmer at that party,”

You wrinkle your nose at the memory, “maybe I do have diseases,”

Penelope laughs before pulling you to her with her foot, you fall on top of her your hands keeping you from laying on her. She looks at you and you look at her, you don’t say anything, and she doesn’t either but after a while, she kisses you and you kiss her back.

“We’re going to be late,” you say, remembering that Penelope had booked a restaurant to eat at three days ago,

“One more kiss?”

You kiss her again before mumbling a ‘greedy’ and getting off her, “Pen your lipstick is smudged,”

She smiles sitting up, “red looks good on you,”

You knit your eyebrows together because you were wearing dark blue jeans, white shirt, and a black blazer, it takes you a moment to raise your hand to wipe your lip figuring out she had also ruined your lipstick. She grins at you when you realise pulling out her lipstick and you let her put it on you, watching her eyes stay focused whilst she did it. When she finishes, she puts the lid back on the lipstick and sticks it in her purse,

“Shall we?” Penelope asks sliding her heels on,

The restaurant was on the outskirts of the city, although you definitely felt underdressed seeing a Lamborghini park in front of the restaurant and a woman covered in expensive furs walk out of it and into the restaurant. Penelope tells you to do the same although it makes you nervous to do so, Penelope once exiting your car excitedly walks over to the valet boy. She introduces him as MJ, he smiles at you shaking your hand walking both of you into the restaurant and seating you both. Penelope whispers something into his ear before he walks away.

Inside the restaurant, the lights were dimmed with red velvet drapes hanging from the ceiling, everyone looked like they had some serious money as most of the women were wearing branded dresses and the men were all in black and white tuxedos. It also had that really rich person smell you couldn’t really explain, but you remember that a restaurant your aunt Rebekah brought you to had the same smell and it looked almost like this although your memory was hazy due to it being so many years ago.  
Penelope hands you a menu and your jaw drops at the prices next to the menu,

“Pen, I would have to sell my left foot just to buy an entrée,” you say,

Penelope smiles at you, “Let me take care of you for once,” she reassures,

“How do you know MG?” You can’t help yourself to ask,

“He does law with me and he really needed a job, so I hooked him up with this place,” she waves over a waiter before continuing, “he’s the closest to being a best friend to me,”

You nod watching Penelope talk to an older waiter, but she orders for the both of you which has a fancy French name you weren’t familiar with. After ordering Penelope excitedly explains the history of the restaurant to you and which celebrities have been here, she also tells a story of when MG first got hired he met one of his idols and looked like a lovestruck puppy and how lucky she was to see his reaction. You can’t help but laugh along to her stories throughout the dinner, she orders both of you lobster for the main meal and she laughs at your expression of shock.

“Bit overwhelmed there?” she teases sipping a glass of wine,

You blush, “you are just full of surprises, Penelope Park,”

The lobster was amazing as well with the expensive wine, you figure out the more wine Penelope drinks she talks more about herself. She tells you that when she was pre-teen she was forced into ballet, but she is the least flexible person ever and that she remembers one of the teachers being shocked by how horrible she was. She tells you that she has a younger brother that she hasn’t seen since he was eight and he’s around ten now, but he still calls her every chance he gets, although he isn’t allowed to. She tells you how when she was fifteen, she wanted to do ice skating but after five lessons she still couldn’t get off the rail without falling on her face, you have no idea how long both of you are there for until you leave the restaurant Penelope being overly dramatic saying goodbye to MG who seemed very familiar to it.

He stops you before getting into your car, “be careful with her for me please,”

You nod, “see you around MG,”

Driving back to your place was nice Penelope was watching the trees that went by while she hums a song, you’re not familiar with, you have to help her get back to your room with her in heels while she attempted to kiss you which you reject each time. Getting her changed and in bed was a workout and you sat on the side of the bed afterwards checking your phone to see multiple messages from the twin group chat, who found out that Maya was coming back to New Orleans for Christmas break and was dragging you into a hangout night with Lizzie’s new boyfriend when Maya comes back. You text the group chat asking about Lizzie's mysterious new boyfriend and if she could share if he were attractive before putting down your phone and sliding into bed next to Penelope who opens her eyes to look at you,

“Did I do a good impression on our first date?” She asks,

“That was a date?”

Penelope looks dumbfounded, “Would I take you to a fancy restaurant if it weren’t?” she blinks, “I even wore my favourite heels,”

You blink now, finally letting it register that it was indeed a date that you mistook for just going out and having dinner. You feel bad for not picking it up earlier because you were just caught up in Penelope and her stories but mostly the food, you liked the food, the lobster was amazing.

“If I kiss you would you take that as an apology for being slow?” you ask,

She knits her eyebrows together in fake annoyance, “maybe,”

You kiss her and she quickly deepens it, your hands on her waist not arguing against the quick turn of events but she stops as soon as it starts leaving you speechless. She turns her body around, her back facing you,

“I’m still mad at you for being so oblivious,” she huffs, “goodnight Mikaelson,”

She never stated it was a date, so it technically wasn’t her fault, Penelope just never asked or told her, so it was her fault for you not knowing. You try to wrap your arm around her waist, but she slaps it away,

“No touch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone's thoughts on the first ep of the new season? Personally, I'm not fond of it due to the Handon kiss but everything else seemed ok. 
> 
> If anyone has any questions, advice or overall want to chat please don't be scared!


	5. a realisation and christmas break.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope doesn't know what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AhHH sorry for the late update, school started up again and it's hitting me hard!

You wake up in an empty bed in the morning, just laying on your bed looking at your ceiling. Was she genuinely mad, is that why she left?  
You don’t see her for a few days, deciding it would be better to spend time with Josie as the girl was abandoned by Lizzie who spends all her time with mystery boy. When you hang out with Josie, she’s all excited finding out about Maya returning to New Orleans for Christmas as you all haven’t spent a Christmas together since you and Maya left for college/university. The last time, you all dressed up in reindeer onesies to play around in the snow the night before and then all four of you getting the flu on Christmas day, so you all spent it in bed with Caroline’s famous chicken soup.

It was Josie and your favourite Christmas even if Josie needed an infuser because she had a bad case of the sniffles and Lizzie was blaming the two of you that she couldn’t breathe, although Lizzie did give everyone the reindeer onesie idea. Ethan was the only one that didn’t become the victim to the flu and was put on designated tissue box duty although he was not happy about the job.

Josie swears she still has the reindeer onesies so that you all could do it again, you laugh at how excited the girl was at the plans not mentioning how you both were going to tie Lizzie down to put her in the onesie. You both had class around two that day, so you decide to go get lunch with her first before you needed to go your separate ways, she picks out this small sandwich place right next to her class building which had had food to die for. You don’t expect to see Penelope Park at the cash register looking like she was going to claw someone’s face off with her purple acrylic nails, thankfully the line was long enough to give you time to compose yourself.

When you both get to Penelope, Josie did not look happy at all and Penelope had a snarky grin on her face,

“How may I take your order?” She asks looking directly at you,

“She’ll have the same as me,” Josie doesn’t let you speak so you’re kind of just watching this standoff,

“I was asking the pretty girl next to you JoJo,” she winks at you,

You feel your cheeks redden, “I’ll have what she’s having,”

Penelope pouts, “Both of you are just as plain as the bread,” both of you pay with card and she gives you a receipt and a number for the order,

Josie leads you to a table in the corner of the small shop and you both sit,  
“What was that all about?” you ask,

You were confused, you thought that Penelope didn’t know her but maybe she forgot about her Josie, but it was obvious that they knew each other due to Penelope knowing her usual order.

Josie smiles sheepishly at you, “you know my mysterious ex?” you nod, “that’s her,”

It takes pure will power not to freak out and keep your poker face, but you breathe in wrong and end up choking on air, “wait what?” you say trying to stop your coughing fit.

You look over at Penelope at the cash register chatting to a customer and then back at Josie, should you tell her how you were connected to her or would it cause things to become problematic throughout Christmas. To be fair if you didn’t know that Penelope was Josie’s secret ex then Penelope probably didn’t know that you were her best friend, so you’ll talk it out with Penelope before you cough anything up to Josie.

“That’s Satan in her true form,” she says, “I forgot she worked on Mondays,”

“She doesn’t look that bad Jo,”

“It’s part of her voodoo,”

You laugh at what she says, mimicking her and wiggle your fingers and she rolls her eyes at you,

“You know what I meant,”

You look back to Penelope to see her walking over with your food, “Careful Jo, she might hex us,” you whisper.

When the raven-haired girl gets to your table, she puts down the two plates and lets her hand linger next to yours,

“I do hope both of you enjoy the food,” she smirks, “also you dropped something before you walked away,” she hands you something winking and walks away swaying her hips.

While you were watching her walk away Josie snatches the piece of paper in your hand, unfolding it,

“Unbelievable,” Josie whispers,

“What did I drop?” You ask and she gives you the piece of paper.

It was her phone number; she finally gave you her phone number and you can’t help but feel a twitch of a smile. You look back at Penelope who does the call me hand gesture before she goes back to talking to someone, but you were with Josie and she doesn’t know.

You both don’t mention anything else after Penelope’s stunt just eating in silence before standing next to the door to say goodbye for the day, you hug her, but you don’t expect her to pull you in and kiss you a lot longer than necessary. The kiss was definitely not needed but before you could say anything Josie was walking off to class leaving you confused next to the door, you look at Penelope hoping she didn’t see that, but she looked too enthralled in a conversation to have seen anything.

The walk to class you couldn’t shake how you somehow got with Josie’s ex out of everyone in the university, but Penelope most likely didn’t know either, although something felt wrong about the situation. Class passes without you listening at all, just looking at the background of your laptop of you and Josie but it felt wrong and you couldn’t tell why.

You go to bed alone not bothering to make something to eat you don’t even bother to check your phone or to message Maya, you just lay on your bed not changing your clothes. You could smell Penelope on your pillow giving you the urge to text the girl and you don’t until it’s two in the morning and you dig the piece of paper out of your pocket. You find yourself memorising the number instead of typing it into your phone, just laying there ingraining her handwriting into your mind. You fall asleep holding the piece of paper and wake up way past your first class, you wake up with the same bad feeling in your stomach, but you still don’t text anyone.

You don’t text Penelope. 

You don’t bother to get up for your two other classes instead you just shower and waste time on your laptop not looking at anything particular until you type in Penelope’s name in the google search bar, you don’t expect to see multiple news articles with her name. The most recent news reports were around the time her father had passed from cancer, stating she was not seen at the funeral service. Her father was a famous CEO from The Parks a very powerful law firm from New York, this confused you as to why Penelope would be going to a college far away from New York. Something from that company sounded familiar but it was quite literally one of the most wanted businesses in America, so you probably learnt about them in school or something.

Articles were questioning who would get the business when her father needs a successor as his daughter apparently went rogue, not as successful, a woman and overall, some pretty ignorant stuff that you hope that Penelope has never read on. You see a family portrait of her family when Penelope was probably fifteen with longer hair and younger appearance, but she still had that smirk that she always pulls, she looked most like her father down to her eye shape, they all looked happy besides her mother. Her mother had a small sneer on her face, one hand on her little brother's shoulder and subtly away from Penelope. The more you looked at the portrait the more hateful her mother seemed to be, you had to scroll down to stop feeling like she was watching you.

\--------

The days following until Christmas break, you don’t see Penelope even at her job that you’ve gone to multiple times to try to talk to her but besides that, you spend it with Josie whether it be at the library or either of your rooms studying. Exams were hitting you right in the face right after the other not giving you any time to breathe so Josie became your study buddy, the girl was one to stress cry over exams because she hated failing, but she always passed with flying colours besides that one maths test in ninth grade, that was not pretty at all.

You see Lizzie every time you go over to their room on her bed covered in study sheets, she was doing business although she could care less about the economy. Soon after all three of you are on a road trip back to New Orleans the idea coming for Josette Saltzman herself, neither you nor Lizzie was for it but she somehow persuaded both of you to get in her small, cramped car and drive for literal hours while Lizzie somehow got the entire backseat for herself. You can’t even get started on how the three of you had to share one bed at each stingy motel, at least Lizzie’s boyfriend was going to join you all after Christmas day, so it wasn’t four people in one bed and that was the only thing you were thankful for.

You get to the twins home after four days and being hugged by her family was amazing, you haven’t seen them since the Christmas before and you cried in the arms of Caroline because you missed them as well you were exhausted. Lizzie and Josie were all over their parents and were practically begging their mother to make them her famous soup and you totally did not join in the poutfest, both Alaric and Caroline usher you three into your rooms ignoring everyone’s pleading.

Lizzie got to stay in the twin's bedroom as she was going to room with Maya when she gets back while you and Josie got to be bed buddies in your old room, dragging both your bags into the room you can’t help but look around your room to look at the paintings you used to do. Before you had lost your parents, you were really into art and painting even after they had passed art became your coping mechanism, locking yourself in your room just to paint for days on end. You only let Josie in when it was happening as she used to stare at your paintings in awe and she became your muse for a while until you had to leave for college, you loved painting snow, flowers, and storms.

“Been a while, huh?” you tell yourself moving your bag next to your bed,  
Josie comes into the room a few minutes after dragging her two suitcases behind her, you could hear her dragging them up the wooden staircase before she entered, and she stops and looks around the room just like you did. She walks over to one of your oil paintings that were still half-finished on the easel, outlining the picture with her finger and when she’s done, she smiles,

“I remember when you started painting this right before you left when you came back for Christmas you refused to touch any of your paints,” she doesn’t look at you still focused on the painting, “I miss it,”

You don’t respond but instead listen to Lizzie drag her bags up the stairs dramatically, opening the room next to you and then her scream, Josie looks at you her eyebrows knitted before you go check on the blonde. You don’t expect to see Maya Machado being squeezed to death by Lizzie, you run into the hug throwing you all onto the bed laughing.

“I’ve missed you all too,” Maya laughs still being squeezed to death,


	6. Maya Machado Shenanigans

It takes a few minutes for both you and Lizzie to get off the girl that’s when Josie comes in and out shows both of you by hugging her like a normal person, Maya looked a lot more mature, her features sharper and she sounded older. It kind of hits you that you haven’t seen her face to face for two years and you can’t help but drag Josie off Maya so you can hug her again,

“Hope, you hug thief!” Josie whines trying to drag you off the girl,

“I love all my fans, don’t need to worry Josie,” Maya says,

After a while of just chatting and finally everyone being all together which felt far too long, Alaric calls you all down for dinner and everyone could smell it. You call first dibs, but Lizzie starts racing down the stairs with her long legs while you try to catch up, but you trip down the last five steps, Lizzie shows no mercy but flick you off and take her seat at the table while you were splayed out on the floor.

“They have not changed one bit,” Caroline laughs watching it all godown,  
You sit upon the floor, “Lizzie still does not love me, Caroline,” you accuse crawling to your seat after the two other girls sat down,

“My standards aren’t that short,”

“I will kick in your ankles just like Oz tag,”

Lizzie was already digging into her food, “Sorry can’t hear small gremlins from all the way down there,” she retorts her mouth full of food,

You flick her off starting to eat the hot soup, “I will use my messenger pigeons,”

Both Maya and Josie butt in, “Have you guys not heard of not talking with a mouthful of food,”

You try not to laugh but you choke, now Lizzie is laughing at you and then she starts choking, the dinner was alive and happy. It was mostly everyone asking Maya about how England is and if she were enjoying her classes, she loved them, but she was very homesick and hoped that she could finish a year early so she could come back faster. She tells everyone about how stupidly cold it always was and that British accents were the death of her, so obviously you all started talking in a British accent for the rest of the dinner.

At the end of dinner, Josie had fallen asleep at the table, Lizzie was almost joining her, and Maya was suffering from some major jet so both Alaric and Caroline usher up the girls to their rooms, while you insist that you help clean up with Caroline. You weren’t tired and as well you wanted to catch up with her, she kind of became a pretty big mother figure in your life and you loved her like a mother. After helping bring all the dishes to the kitchen you give the blonde a hug and thank her for taking you in before going up to your room, you walk in to see Josie sprawled on your bed. You take this time to go have a shower because having four girls in one house, a war will start and you do not want a hairbrush thrown at your head like last time.

You nudge Josie over and get her under the covers, she was out like a light, so you lay down next to her on your phone looking at nothing in particular and her number finds it’s way into your contacts, but you don’t put her name on it. You put your phone down after that, moving yourself to spoon the sleeping girl who cuddles into you and you kiss the top of her head before succumbing to sleep.

You wake up in the morning to snickering coming from the doorway, opening your eyes to see both Lizzie and Maya taking photos of you cuddling up to Josie.

“Do you guys want to join in or something?” You croak out rubbing your eyes,

Maya harpoons herself onto both you and Josie without a second thought while Lizzie stood their disgusted, Josie squeaks with the extra weight and you mutter an ‘I didn’t intend for you to take that literally.’

Maya was squishing your cheeks while you tried to keep your angry face and Josie was cuddling into you more like a call for help while Lizzie recorded from the door, this was a horrible wakeup call with Maya giggling loudly. Lizzie was starting to get more angles from different sides of the bed,

“You never share Hope,” Maya accuses Josie trying to squirm in between the two of you,

Josie says something back, but it comes out muffled and between Maya’s giggles you didn’t catch on to what she says but Maya does due to raising an eyebrow at you, Lizzie had somehow disappeared from the room probably back to bed. Maya was a morning person just like Josie, but it was horrible as she had no compassion for those who can barely wake up until ten in the morning, aka you and Lizzie. You wanted to plead for Lizzie to come back for the girl, but you were so exhausted, so you attempt to ball up enough to be protected by the girl laying on you.

“You guys used to be so fun, I’ll just go eat toast with Lizzie,” Maya fake sniffles getting off both of you and slowly shuffling away, although you hear Lizzie’s door close next to you, “Okay now I guess I’ll eat toast alone!”

Josie pops her head up, “Maya can you make me a hot cocoa?”

“Will do Jo,”

“Maya can you make me a hot cocoa as well?” you ask,

“No,”

You thought you were Maya’s favourite but Josie whispers to you that both of you could share after you hear her walk down the stairs, it was probably no more than eight in the morning and you weren’t planning to get out of bed until ten. You pull Josie more into a cuddle falling back asleep, you wake up a few hours later to Josie tracing your face, smiling at you when she sees your eyes open. Josie had this sort of innocence that she hasn’t aged out of since she was a child with her big curious doe eyes who somehow looked at the Brightside of everything, you remember when you first got taken in by the Saltzman’s and seeing the younger girl watch you with such curiosity. Josie had your interest since the first time you saw her when you were fourteen and she was twelve, even with the two-year age gap you found yourself being tutored by her while Lizzie teased you on how you couldn’t do basic calculus.

“You should teach me how to paint,” Josie says still focused on tracing your face,

“I already think you’re doing a great job,” you tease, “I don’t even think I would know how to hold a paintbrush properly anymore,” you say letting your hand rest on her waist planning to tickle her,

The brunette bites her bottom lip, “you could paint me like you used to?”

You look over to your easel, “I’ll paint you like one of my French—” you grin but she kisses you making you shut up,

Josie knew how to make you shut up, your hands now caressing her face and her arms on your waist. She deepens the kiss almost immediately unable to help the smile on your face, you don’t know how long either of you kiss for due to Josie barely giving you any time to take in a breath. She pulls you in impossibly close with no sign of slowing down until she begins to move down to your neck,

“What’s gotten into you Jo?” you ask trying to catch your breath,

Josie doesn’t respond instead continuing to your collarbones, you can’t help but move your hair so it’s easier for her and she just hums as a thank you. She bites a specific spot making you take in a deep breath and she repeats it getting the same reaction each time, you kiss her again.

“Teach me how to paint,” she whispers into your ear,

The brunette is straddling you now, you nod because you knew your voice would betray you, but it does due to her pulling her shirt over her head leaving the girl in a pink sports bra, you make a strangled noise due to surprise and she smiles. She leads your hands to the curve of her waist, her skin soft and warm; she kisses you.

“Sorry Jo for the late delivery, I was help—O my fucking god!” Maya Machado had a thing with horrible timing, and this was one of its times, as she closes the door as fast as she opened it,

“Don’t tell Lizzie!” Josie jumps off you to go fight the girl while you’re way too stunned to even move,

Before she runs out, she pulls her shirt back on and quickly kisses you before running off, Maya was screaming for her life down the stairs, you don’t bother trying to stop the skirmish but instead lay your head on the pillow. You hear the mug crash onto the floor and more yelling now with Caroline in the mix, you smile to yourself so many things have stayed the same but yet everything has changed.

You were attracted to Josie and denying it months after the first kiss did more harm than good but, you can’t deny that Penelope Park helped quicken the process to your realisation of liking girls. You don’t get the opportunity to think more thoroughly as someone comes crashing onto your bed,

“Hope, save me!” Maya begs from under the sheets,

You look over to the door to see Josie covered in hot cocoa, she looked pissed off, so you join Maya under the bedsheets like children hiding from the boogeyman.

“You’re meant to be protecting me not hiding with me,” Maya hisses,

“She was much happier before you barged in,” you hiss back,

“We are having the talk after this!”

Your bickering ends when Josie sits on both of you, she wasn’t heavy, but the extra heat made you want to scream, Maya successfully wiggles out and makes a dash for the door and Josie gets off you to close and lock the door. You sit on top of the blanket cooling down, watching the brunette take off her shirt with a sigh and go through your drawers for another shirt. You shamefully check her out and she notices, walking up to you still shirtless,

“I’m not done with her,” Josie playfully threatens,

You pull her in by her waist, “I’m not done with you.”

Josie’s face goes red, kissing her she tasted like chocolate and you just wanted to taste her even more. You loved it when Josie got flustered by the smallest things, but it ends again as Maya knocks on the door shouting, “use protection!”

Josie sighs kissing you, “You’d expect something like this from Lizzie,”

“At least Maya has to deal with Lizzie and her boy-toy in the open, she just has to learn to knock with us,”

Josie laughs into the kiss, “Isn’t he coming straight after Christmas?”

“There’s only one other spare bedroom so if he gets here after Ethan, he’ll have to sleep on the couch,” you pull the girl onto your lap so she’s straddling you again, “or we have to make Lizzie change the bedsheets,”

“Don’t make me think about that,”

You kiss her neck softly, “Will do sweetheart.”

Was this still platonic or was it never platonic to begin with, moving your hands down her waist to her upper thighs moving her closer to you and you squeeze making the girl hum against your lips. Josie felt safe like you already knew everything about her, so when she swipes her tongue along your bottom lip it’s not unexpected but not unwanted either. You squeeze the back of her thighs again, she impatiently moves your hands to squeeze her ass and that puts you off guard but when you do, she lets out a low moan. You wanted to hear that again, but you don’t go any further although Josie wanted you to,

“Can we please go make French toast Jo?” You ask kissing her stomach,

Josie sits next to you reaching for her shirt, “do we have to go get tormented by Maya?”

“What I’ll sacrifice for French toast plus we have to do damage control,” you kiss her, “we don’t want her to get any ideas,”

Her smile falls but she nods her eyes looking at the floor, “did I say anything wrong?” you ask wrapping your arm around her waist,

She shakes her head, “this is just platonic,” she doesn’t look up at you and unlocks the door listening to her walk down the stairs,

You did say something wrong, but it was a mutual agreement that this was simply platonic, if she wanted more, she would’ve expressed it, but you knew she most likely still isn’t over her ex, you mean Penelope. Yeah, her ex-Penelope the girl you have basically become mesmerised with since you first met her at that bar on your birthday. Two sides of the same coin you would like to think but Penelope was way out of your comfort zone for many reasons, you had a fear of the unknown and the girl was a mystery. Did you even see yourself with a woman, but you don’t know because your future has always looked so dull after the deaths of your parents, besides with what they wrote in their will wanting you to further your education in their footsteps, but you didn’t listen. Instead, you’re wasting your life to a degree that you weren’t fond of. You and Penelope were far more similar than what was shown or told, you even forgot that at one stage you wanted to be a painter until walking through your bedroom doors. You would hate to admit one of your first thoughts were Penelope when you looked at the unfinished painting on your easel but it was until Josie walked into the room.

Two sides of the same coin, you thought again staring at the unfinished painting. You don’t know how long you sat there with the same repetitive thoughts in your mind, but Lizzie pops her head in with obvious bed hair,

“Why was Maya screaming murder at eight in the morning?”

“Jo was out for blood,”

“Nothing has changed,” Lizzie laughs, “You going to come and help me break the stove?”

You smile standing up, “Maya has a slight twinge of a British accent now though,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really vibing when writing this chapter, hope you guys enjoy it!!


	7. Maya Machado Shenanigans pt2

Both of you walk down the stairs to watch a ball of flour being thrown in your direction and a slightly annoyed Caroline covered in flour standing next to the kitchen counter, watching the showdown with Josie and Maya. Josie had the bag of flour in her hand while Maya looked like a ghost covered head to toe by flour, you couldn’t help but stifle your laughter with your hand at the two girls.

“Do not laugh Hope Mikaelson or you’ll be on clean up duty with them,” Caroline threatens, “nothing has changed, and I have yet to decide if it’s a bad thing,”

“Lizzie and I were just talking about that,”

“I think Jo and Maya have swapped roles with us though Hope,” Lizzie was also concealing a quirk of a smile on her lips.

The hours following the event in the kitchen were boring, to say the least, you got to watch both Maya and Josie clean up the entire kitchen being bossed by Caroline the entire time, while you and Lizzie got to make scrambled eggs, pancakes, and French toast for everyone. Both the girls miss out on the first picks of breakfast to go have a shower while you and Lizzie eat practically everything, Alaric still had work until Christmas day, so he was long gone until then.

Lizzie was lying lazily in the living room while you began washing up the dishes that were used when Josie walks down the stairs her hair damp because of the shower, she was wearing an oversized purple hoodie and black leggings. Josie walks over to you grabbing a plate that you had just washed,

“You do know there are plates on the countertop that hasn’t been used,”

“I wanted this one,”

You sigh knowing that you’ll most likely have to clean it up again, but Josie kisses your cheek, noticing that she smelt like vanilla. She scurries away with the plate, realising it was her way to get what she wanted, and you go back to cleaning up. Caroline was the next to come down and grab a plate from the countertop, giving you a side hug with a thank you and you can’t help but smile a little more. Maya took longer than the other two, coming down when Josie had finished her plate and was putting it next to the sink,

“Are there any more scrambled eggs?” Maya asks from the staircase now knowing why she took so long as she had full-on done her hair,

You look at the pan that was now empty of scrambled eggs, “nope,”

“Can you make me some?”

“Go ask Lizzie,”

Maya flicks you off before barging into Lizzie who was half asleep on the couch watching some weird medical show on the tv, you would think that when Maya got older, she would settle down, but it was completely the opposite. Maya was your partner in crime, who you would’ve fallen off the Earth with if she asked, when you first introduced her to the Saltzman family after befriending the girl in eighth-grade detention, they were reluctant to let another rambunctious girl into the home. They warmed up to her though as well with her younger brother Ethan, who was the saint between the two of them.

Ethan had a pretty big crush on Josie and when both you and Maya were concerned about how quiet the house was, slivered down the staircase to find both of them cuddling each other. Both you and Maya began silently wheezing and clapping like dying seals, due to you and Maya making a bet with Lizzie about this exact situation and now you both get to bully both the twins and Ethan. Maya had called both of the two out at dinner in front of everyone in a spur of the moment, the boy had angrily yelled insults at the girl before marching off barely touching his food while Josie had turned a bright red. Lizzie on the other hand had groaned coughing up twenty dollars for both you and Maya to share at the arcade after school, neither Alaric nor Caroline comment on the situation besides Caroline shaking her head disapprovingly when Lizzie takes out the twenty-dollar bill. Josie just sat at the table staring at her untouched plate, you later apologise to the girl when the Machado’s leave and Josie were sitting in front of your easel.

Josie comes up behind you putting her hands on your shoulders, “what’re you thinking about?”

You jump startled realising you’ve had your hands resting in the now cold water within the sink, “nothing important Jo,” Josie doesn’t respond waiting for you to blabber on which you do, “just about when Maya and I caught you and Ethan together,”

The brunette laughs softly, “was my dignity worth the twenty dollars?”

“Not really, Maya used it all,” you shrug, “you excited to see him again?” you wiggle your eyebrows,

“You’re horrible Hope Mikaelson, that was like four years ago,”

You turn around and flick the warm water onto Josie and she grimaces, “you still got a chance, Jo, he’s been single for a year now,”

“Don’t you dare influence Josie to date my brother, again!” Maya pops her head from behind the couch who was sitting on Lizzie,

Both you and Josie can’t help but laugh at Maya’s accusation due to the girl not having an issue with them in the first place, due to it being fun to poke at once in a while. Although it did end as fast as it started due to the relentless teasing from both Maya and Lizzie while you were far too focused on your paintings around that time. You specifically remember when they did break up, it was around two in the morning and you were finishing up on one of your oil paintings of a waterfall when Josie had sneaked her way into your room sniffling. You had immediately dropped everything you were doing and went to comfort the crying girl who had balled her hands into your shirt, not being able to get her words out so you just stroked her hair on your bed until she calmed down. She didn’t tell you that she broke up with the boy but instead confessed that something was wrong with her between shaky breaths and that she was terrified that you wouldn’t care about her anymore. You comforted the girl the best you could at sixteen when she cried out that she didn’t think she was attracted to boys but instead girls. You sighed in relief because your first thought was pregnancy but her being attracted to girls was something you definitely could support; you had let her fall asleep on your bed while you packed up all your paints for the night. When you had pulled the covers over both of you, she had whispered her voice full of sleep if you thought she was gross, and you had brushed her hair away from her face promising that you would always love her.

You were the one to be suspended for a week after Josie had officially come out at fifteen when you were walking down the hallway to her next class and a boy a good foot taller had called her a dyke. Josie had told you to leave it, but you saw red and shoved the boy into the locker wall and punching him directly in the nose, leaving him on the floor with a bloody nose and you threatening to kick his ass even more if he even looked at the brunette. Lizzie had snuck out of class to give you a high-five while you were waiting to go into the principal's office and Maya was on suspension around the same time for buttering the entire gym floor right before a basketball game. You regretted nothing at all besides when you got home, and Josie gave it to you for being stupid and that you could’ve gotten hurt, but you just pulled her into a hug quoting back that you would always love her. 

“You just went into thinking mode again,” Josie pokes your shoulder,

You grin, “just recalling when she dated Finch,”

Another loud groan from Maya on the couch followed by Lizzie groaning as Maya had dramatically fallen on the girl,

“Are we really going to bring up old wounds, Hope?” Maya once again pops her head out, “because we wouldn’t like to bring up frat boy Landon?”

“That wound is still new, Macchiato!”

“You did not just call me a beverage, now you have to make me eggs,”

“In your dreams.”

You make her eggs.


End file.
